Manufacturing Engineer

Manufacturing Engineer, NPI & Process
Based in Ampthill, Bedfordshire | £40,000 to £45,000 | SC clearance eligibility required   You know the gap between a design that looks fine in CAD and one that can actually be built, on time, at cost, every time.   This role is about closing that gap.   You’ll join an Operations Engineering team at a defence manufacturing site in Ampthill, supporting complex assemblies from prototype and new product introduction (NPI) through to full-rate production. The brief is simple: make products easier, cheaper and more reliable to build, and get involved early enough for it to matter.   First, a quick check. This role needs SC security clearance. You don’t need to hold it now, but you must be eligible to get it, which usually means at least five years’ continuous UK residency and holding current British citizenship.   What you’ll actually do

• Join early design reviews and apply DFM (design for manufacture) so complexity, cost and lead time come out before anything reaches the shop floor
• Develop manufacturing processes for new and existing products, and own the PFMEA that proves they’re robust
• Define the sequence of operations, process instructions and production layouts, with lean manufacturing flow built in
• Create manufacturing BOMs and routings in SAP
• Identify tooling and fixture needs, write Technical Requirement Specifications, and support capital equipment from definition through to acceptance
• Produce Basis of Estimates for engineering and shop floor activity
• Feed simulation models into a digital twin that tests throughput and cost before decisions get made
• Support full rate production and drive yield and continuous improvement, working closely with Industrial Engineering and Production Engineering

What you’ll need Essential:

• Experience as a Manufacturing Engineer, Process Engineer or similar, working on complex assemblies
• NPI experience, ideally taking products from prototype into production
• Practical use of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma and quality improvement tools, PFMEA included
• CAD skills for producing 2D technical drawings
• Experience managing BOMs and routings in SAP or another MRP/ERP system
• Experience writing clear process instructions or work instructions
• A track record of driving process change that improved efficiency or quality
• Eligibility for SC security clearance

Desirable:

• Facility or production layout experience
• Exposure to manufacturing simulation or digital twin work
• Experience writing technical specifications for tooling or capital equipment
• A background in defence, aerospace or another regulated, high-complexity sector

Why it’s worth a look

• Whole lifecycle, not one stage. Prototype, NPI, production, end of life. You won’t be stuck firefighting the same problem for three years.
• Real influence. You’ll shape designs early with DFM rather than inheriting a drawing and making do.
• Breadth. Process, layout, tooling, capital projects and simulation all in one role. That’s rare, and it builds a strong CV.
• Stability. Long-term defence programmes.